1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,120 Speaker 1: Hey, Dragon, can you get a hold of your employer. 2 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia and tell them to switch up the commercials, especially 3 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: the one about the Philadelphia cream cheese scrambled eggs ones. 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: My gosh, I'm gonna go coca for Coca puffs, so 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: I don't hear any more new commercials. 6 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 2: Have a good one, that's interesting. 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 3: I have very little control over the content on this show, 8 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,639 Speaker 3: and I have even less control over the spots that 9 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 3: you're hearing. I'm assuming these are the online ones because 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 3: I don't recall any Philadelphia cream cheese and scrambled eggs. 11 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't, because we don't listen to commercials during 12 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 4: the break most most time anyway. But I think that 13 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 4: one might have caught our caught our ears. 14 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 2: But it does. 15 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 3: It just leave me a little bit intrigued, though Philia 16 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 3: cream cheese and scrambled eggsbled eggs. 17 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 2: I don't know. I've never cried it. I don't. 18 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 4: I don't know. 19 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 3: Is there something else that goes into you gets some cheese, 20 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 3: Philadelphia cream cheese, eggs, chives? 21 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 2: What now? I'm curious, But I tell you, I'll tell 22 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 2: you what does drive me nuts? 23 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 5: Are? 24 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 4: For example, you'll downloading podcasts in New York. I get 25 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 4: New York advertisings right yeah here. There's nothing worse than 26 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,559 Speaker 4: having to listen to the blonde chick next door doing 27 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 4: a spot on a podcast while I just want to 28 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 4: get to the content. 29 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 2: Just give me the content. 30 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 4: So poor old blonde chick just gets fifteen seconds fast 31 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 4: forward fifteen seconds. But they do just I don't know 32 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 4: why I heart can't get its act together on don't 33 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 4: just repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat repeat in a like in 34 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 4: a singular episode of a podcast, the same damn commercial 35 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 4: over and over and over and over and over and over. 36 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 3: Something to do with the amount of inventory. They don't 37 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 3: have enough to fill, so they use the same ones 38 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 3: to fill. That's what's my best guess. They don't have, 39 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 3: you know, like fris. 40 00:01:57,760 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 4: Let me raise my hand. I'll raise my hand and 41 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 4: I all volunteer to do. You know, if you like 42 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 4: the inventory. I got plenty of sponsors right here that 43 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 4: would be happy for me to voice something over on 44 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 4: the podcast. Just say it, Just say it, which goes 45 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 4: to show once again how centralization consolidation affects a lot 46 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 4: of different. 47 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 2: Things that you and I have zero control over. Yep, yep. 48 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 4: The critics were almost unanimous. When Trump bypassed the career diplomats. 49 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 4: Now I understand why he skipped over Marco Rubio. Marco 50 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 4: Rubio did not have the time to devote solely to 51 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 4: the Middle East. But when he bypassed the State Department 52 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 4: writ large and turned to Jared Kushner and Steve Whitcoff 53 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 4: with negotiating an end to the guys of war, all 54 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 4: of the DC establishment just, oh my god, how were 55 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 4: these two guys. They don't have any formal diplomatic training, 56 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 4: they don't have the Foreign service pedigree, they don't even 57 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 4: have a graduate degree in international relations from Georgetown. 58 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 2: I mean, how good? How possibly can they do anything? 59 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 4: Ah, in a place like DC that prizes credentials. What 60 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 4: school do you go to, What degree do you have? 61 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 4: Who was your professor that taught you this? Who was 62 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 4: your professor taught you this? What did Trump do? 63 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 2: Instead? 64 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 4: Trump decided that he needed loyalty, pragmatism, and instinct. Now, 65 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 4: to the foreign policy establishment, that's blasphemous, that's heresy. To Trump, 66 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 4: it's pure unadulterated strategy. And now, at least as of 67 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 4: so far, checks TV cameras with the ceasefire holding every 68 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 4: living hostage returned, and at least they're making someone of 69 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 4: a good faith effort to get the bodies of the deceased. 70 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 4: Hostage just returned the first phase, the first phase of 71 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 4: his twenty point piece plan that was signed in Egypt. 72 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 4: The strategy has been vindicated. Last night, I just happened. 73 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 4: I didn't just happen to. I try to watch sixty Minutes. 74 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 4: They had both wit Goff and Kushner on. It was 75 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 4: pretty I'll tell you how fascinating it was. So Tama 76 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 4: has to endure listening to sixty minutes while I watched that. 77 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 4: So she can't watch her movies. I gotta watch sixty 78 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 4: minutes for a minute, and she. 79 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 2: I forget. 80 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 4: Leslie Stall said something, and Tama's response was something to 81 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 4: the effect, she doesn't know what she was talking about. 82 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 4: Those guys were genuinely trying to do the right thing. 83 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 4: They weren't in it for their business interest. Oh I 84 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 4: know what it was. Leslie Stall had repeated, which I'll 85 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 4: get to in a minute, some of the criticism that 86 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,280 Speaker 4: they have business interests in the Middle East, and so 87 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 4: that must present a conflict of interest. And boy, they 88 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 4: were just instantaneously and calmly. Our business interests had nothing 89 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 4: to do with it. Other than our business interests means 90 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 4: that we have pre existing relationships with all of these 91 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 4: players in all of these countries, which means that when 92 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 4: we go knock on the door, they're going to open 93 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 4: it and let us in and we're going to sit 94 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 4: down and talk. It was pretty It was a I 95 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 4: think Leslie stall in sixty minutes were obviously trying to 96 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 4: pick them apart, and they would have nothing to do 97 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 4: with it. 98 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:52,720 Speaker 2: The story will continue. 99 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 5: In a moment, I heard the president ask you what 100 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 5: the chances were for says. 101 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 6: Yes, and you said one hundred percent. And he said 102 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 6: why do you feel so confident? And I said, well, 103 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 6: we can't afford to fail. 104 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 7: We just kept on thinking to ourselves this finish line, 105 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 7: this finish line is about saving lives. 106 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 5: Yes, Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner got to that finish line. 107 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 5: I say, using the intensely personal techniques of real estate 108 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 5: deal makers, dangling presidential promises, protections or punishments to get 109 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 5: Israel and Hamas to agree. 110 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 4: At alliteration there presidential protections, promises and punishments. 111 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 6: We wanted the hostages to come out. We wanted a 112 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,559 Speaker 6: real cease fire that both sides would respect. We needed 113 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 6: a way to bring humanitarian aid into the people, and 114 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 6: then we had to write all these complex words to 115 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 6: deal with the fifty years of stupid word games that 116 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 6: everyone in that region is so used to playing. Both 117 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 6: sides wanted the objective, and we just need to find 118 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 6: a way to help everyone get there. 119 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 5: September, Kushner, Witkoff and negotiators from the Middle East were 120 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 5: making headway on a ceasefire hostage deal when suddenly things 121 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 5: went up in smoke. Israel fired missiles into Cutter to 122 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 5: assassinate Hamas leadership. 123 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 8: We again. 124 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 5: Six people were killed, including the son of Khalil al Haya, 125 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 5: Hamas's top negotiator. 126 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 7: We woke up the next morning to find out that 127 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 7: there had been this attack, and of course I was 128 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 7: called by the President. 129 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 5: You had no idea, obviously. 130 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 2: None whatsoever. 131 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 9: You know. 132 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 7: I think both Jared and I felt I just feel 133 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 7: we felt a little bit betrayed. 134 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 5: Now. I had heard that the President that he was furious. 135 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 6: I think he felt like the Israelis were getting a 136 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 6: little bit out of control in what they were doing, 137 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 6: and that it was time to it was time to 138 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 6: be very strong and stopped them from doing things that 139 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 6: he felt were not in their long term interests. 140 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 5: People should understand that Netanyaho, the Israelis bombed the peacemakers, 141 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 5: bombed the negotiating. 142 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 7: Team, and by the way Leslie, it had a metastasizing 143 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 7: effect because the Qataris were critical to the negotiation, as 144 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 7: were the Egyptians and the Turks, and we had lost 145 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 7: the confidence of the Kataris, and so Hamas went underground 146 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 7: and it was very, very difficult to get to them, and. 147 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 5: They were your link to Hamas. 148 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 2: Absolutely, we were dealing. 149 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 5: Through the Qataris to make your proposals to Hamas. 150 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 7: And it became very very evident as to how important 151 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 7: and how critical that role was. 152 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 5: But there was something that happened that brought the Kataris 153 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 5: back in, and that was this phone call that I 154 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 5: think President Trump actually forced net Yahu to make to 155 00:08:57,920 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 5: the Qataris. 156 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 2: I wouldn't call it force, you wouldn't. 157 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 5: No. 158 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 2: I would say that I was. 159 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 6: Becoming a diplomatic. 160 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 9: Really. 161 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 5: Whether the President himself knew of the attack in advance 162 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 5: or not, he wanted NETNYAHUO to apologize to the Kataris. 163 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:17,559 Speaker 2: The apology needed to happen. It just did. 164 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 7: We were not moving forward without that apology. And the 165 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 7: President said to him, people apologize, and. 166 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 5: So on September twenty ninth, the President held the phone 167 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 5: while Netnyah, who read a scripted apology from the Oval office. 168 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 5: It's time, mister Trump was now directly engaged. He gave 169 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 5: Cutter a new security guarantee. 170 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,439 Speaker 2: So today is a historic day for bees and. 171 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 5: Introduced his own peace plan calling for an immediate cease 172 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 5: fire and release of all remaining Israeli hostages all at once. 173 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 2: And that's what happened. 174 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 6: But the. 175 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 4: Establishment inside the Beltway, it was absolutely convinced that there 176 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 4: was no way that this would work. Now, don't get 177 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 4: me wrong, I'm not naive about it. This he could 178 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 4: fall apart at any moment. But the fact that you've 179 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 4: established a baseline, the fact that these two gentlemen, not 180 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 4: part of Foggy Bottom, not part of the State Department, 181 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 4: but because of their personal relationships, were able to go 182 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 4: in and sit down and get all of those Arab 183 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 4: countries together on the same page, and get Israel on 184 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 4: the same page. I think it's absolutely amazing. Even if 185 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 4: it falls apart. I still think it's amazing because for decades, 186 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 4: professional diplomats have promised peace, but they've delivered process. 187 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,720 Speaker 2: Just process. We're just going to keep doing this. 188 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 4: Same stuff over and over and over again. So they 189 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 4: flew between Jerusalem and Ramala. They kept drafting frameworks and 190 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 4: communication that gathered dust. And I don't think that the 191 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 4: failure of the professional diplomats was for It wasn't because 192 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 4: of a lack of intelligence or effort. It was for 193 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 4: a lack of a will because too many in Foggy 194 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 4: Bottom believed that they knew better than the presidents that 195 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 4: they were serving, treating directives from presidents as suggestions and 196 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 4: objectives as mere abstructions. 197 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 2: Trump saw through all of that. 198 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 4: This is once again, I think at a huge difference 199 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 4: between Trump one point on Trump two point zero four years. 200 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,599 Speaker 4: I think he studied, studied, studied. I don't mean he 201 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 4: sat down and you know, read books. I mean he 202 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 4: thought a lot about why was I, you know, obviously 203 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,880 Speaker 4: got law fair, I've got impeachment, But why could I 204 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 4: not get the people around me to do what I 205 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 4: told them to do. He began to understand that the 206 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 4: State Department was built for a singular purpose to preserve 207 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 4: its own worldview, not to advance a president's worldview. So 208 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 4: in that light, Trump's decision to outsource, to literally outsource, 209 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 4: one of the most delicate negotiations in modern history, one 210 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 4: that's been tried and tried and tried and tried, was 211 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 4: not reckless. 212 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 2: It was deliberate. 213 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 4: Now, Jared Kushner's success in Trump two point zero stem 214 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 4: from precisely what his critics derided. He didn't have any 215 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,559 Speaker 4: formal diplomatic background, so he's free from all the institutional bias, 216 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 4: all the institutional inertia of the State Department. So he 217 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 4: approached Kushner did, and I think with Koff two, they 218 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 4: approached the gods a peace process like a deal maker, 219 00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 4: not a bureaucrat. Here's a huge difference. Bureaucrats really don't 220 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 4: know how to make deals. Oh, they know how to 221 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 4: negotiate a contract, but they're using other people's money when 222 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 4: they negotiate a contract, so they're not even really very 223 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 4: good at negotiating contracts. Look over your shoulder. Decades of 224 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,199 Speaker 4: professional diplomats failed to secure peace in the Middle East 225 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 4: because they were again prioritizing process over results. 226 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 2: They'd sit in meetings, you know. 227 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 4: In fact, I remember sitting with Colon Pale in Indonesia, 228 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 4: most Muslim populated country in the world, and watching the 229 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 4: staff just nod their heads. And then once we left, 230 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 4: i'd hear the staff because I was an outsider, I 231 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 4: wasn't part of the State Department staff. I was there 232 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:57,680 Speaker 4: as a liaison for Bush on behalf of when the 233 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 4: tsunami occurred. I was there on behalf of the President 234 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,439 Speaker 4: about what we could do just to help them logistically 235 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 4: respond to that natural disaster. Powell and his staff were 236 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 4: there trying to negotiate different deals with them. So Kushner 237 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 4: was the perfect foil to that State Department culture of 238 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 4: just nodding heads and engaging in a process. He executed 239 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 4: his father in law's vision directly, without translation, without hesitation, 240 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 4: and he had the authenticity. In fact, that's one of 241 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 4: the things that tim I mentioned last night. Those two 242 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 4: guys seemed very sincere in what they were in their answers. Now, 243 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 4: I think that's from negotiating at the highest level of 244 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 4: business across the table from people that you're trying to 245 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 4: get a business deal done with. You have to be sincere, 246 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 4: and you have to be diplomatic and that authenticity and 247 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,120 Speaker 4: that sincerity earned him credibility with all those leaders in 248 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 4: the Middle East who do what they value strength, they 249 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 4: value decisiveness, and they despise the diplomatic formality. And you 250 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 4: partners Cushner up with Whitcough that produced results that no 251 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 4: committee of experts could have ever done. Now, Whitcoff, take 252 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 4: think about him for a moment. His success is a 253 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 4: case study and why loyalty, clarity, and private sector discipline 254 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:37,840 Speaker 4: outperform bureau bureaucratic diplomacy. Trump knew that Whitcoff was a 255 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 4: straight shooter, a builder, a man that treated deals as 256 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 4: a moral covenant rather than some sort of academic puzzle, 257 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 4: rather than a process. Yes, you have to go through 258 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 4: a process, but the process has got the result in 259 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 4: a deal, not just more process. Whitcoff understands leverage, credibility, trust. 260 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 4: He had spent his entire career broke rey multi billion 261 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 4: dollar real estate projects where reputations and fortunes turned on 262 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 4: actually keeping your word. Now take that and parachute those 263 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 4: two in the chaos of Middle Eastern politics, those instincts 264 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 4: actually mattered, so they weren't speaking in platitudes about frameworks 265 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 4: or confidence building measures. He spoke in terms of value, deliverables, 266 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 4: metrics and consequences. 267 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 2: Those words are alien to d C. 268 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 4: Do you think that the bureaucrats think about Well, they 269 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 4: may think about deliverables, do they ever think about consequences? No, 270 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 4: because they know the presidents come and go, secretaries of 271 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 4: state come and go, but they'll be there forever. That 272 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 4: language is alien to d C. But you know what, 273 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 4: it resonates in the Middle East. It resonates in countries 274 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 4: where whatever you may think about them as individuals, and 275 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 4: whether it's in Doha, Cairo, or Tel Aviv, whether it's 276 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 4: Muslims or Jews, they actually believe in strength and keeping 277 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 4: one's words. Now, the critics said that these two guys 278 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:21,119 Speaker 4: are unqualified to lead these peace talks. Well, guess what 279 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 4: I think the critics were right about that they were qualified. 280 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 4: They were unqualified, And that's precisely the point. Diplomatic qualification 281 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 4: often means immersion in an elite culture of failure, a 282 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 4: mindset that sees complexity as being virtuous and risk and 283 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 4: risk taking. Well, that's when you do action, when you 284 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:51,479 Speaker 4: when you do things, when you take action, that's risk taking, 285 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 4: and I can tell you from personal experience that bureaucrats 286 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 4: are absolutely risk averse. They don't want to do anything 287 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:02,399 Speaker 4: that might cause blowback. These guys went in knowing that 288 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 4: what they do could calls blowback, but they were going 289 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 4: to use their word, their deal making, to say, you 290 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 4: got to trust this on this, This is what the 291 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:15,879 Speaker 4: president wants, this is what we're gonna do. Presidential promises 292 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:23,439 Speaker 4: and punishment things not very diplomatic to me. That's how 293 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 4: you get a deal done. 294 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 9: Hey, Mike found it kind of ironic that London has 295 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 9: fallen about killing a president and then Olympus or. 296 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 8: Sorry, Olympus has fallen about the White House getting invaded 297 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 8: and torn up, and I never got to see the end. 298 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,439 Speaker 4: Did the president die in? That was all at the 299 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 4: time of the note Olympus. Is he referring it to 300 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 4: a movie. 301 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure where he was going with all 302 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 3: of the but yes, there are several movies out there 303 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 3: that Olympus is falling and London is falling. It's the 304 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:13,159 Speaker 3: whole movie series about yeah, somebody kidnapping the president enough. 305 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 4: I just can't place Olympus. For some reason, I can't 306 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 4: place that one do you want to talk about the talkbox. 307 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 2: For a second. 308 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:24,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not able to access the talkback screen anymore. 309 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 3: It just says, you know, the spinning wheel of death. 310 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 3: And so I'm assuming if you're trying to leave a 311 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 3: talkback it might not be working because I can't access 312 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 3: the other end too. So I'm playing what I have, 313 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 3: and that's what I have, So enjoy that that talk 314 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 3: back there. 315 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 4: Well, I'm only laughing because as I look, I'm not 316 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 4: obviously I'm notishing. I'm not wishing ill will on the company. 317 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 4: But for all of the lectures we get about doing 318 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,239 Speaker 4: everything to make certain that we don't ever click on 319 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 4: the link or we don't answer a f email or 320 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:01,680 Speaker 4: anything else. 321 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 2: There's the story about Overnight. Is it still up on drugs? 322 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 2: Let's see. 323 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 4: Yeah, Internet matdown, Amazon and cloud as hits, airlines, major 324 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 4: sites hits iHeart. 325 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 2: Oh no, I didn't say that. 326 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 3: Now I see it may not have hit us, and 327 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 3: maybe somebody's just rebooting it, or it hit us now 328 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 3: or something. I don't know. 329 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 2: I just didn't. 330 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:26,159 Speaker 3: I don't have access to any new talkback, So if 331 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 3: you seem to be frustrated and can't leave one, that 332 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 3: might be why, and. 333 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 4: Dragon's frustrated because he's just getting the spinning wheel of death. 334 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 2: Site cannot be access site cannot be reached, and neither can. 335 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 4: The support team. So there, I think we have been 336 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 4: hacked back to sixty minutes. 337 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:50,119 Speaker 2: Now. 338 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 4: Stall asks, I think a very legitimate question about wait 339 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 4: a minute, during all of this time period, while you know, 340 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,160 Speaker 4: they they had seventy two hours to get the bodies back, 341 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 4: and then we still have to establish a you know, 342 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,439 Speaker 4: an administrative governing body. 343 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:11,400 Speaker 2: All of this is going on. HAMAS is rearming. 344 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,199 Speaker 5: Issues that were kicked down the road, left unresolved, like 345 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:19,240 Speaker 5: the extent of Israeli true withdrawal, the need to establish 346 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 5: an international peacekeeping mechanism, a functional government in Gaza, and 347 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 5: most urgently, when and how HAMAS will disarm. 348 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,920 Speaker 4: Those are good questions, and those are legitimately good questions 349 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 4: about the curren cease fire. 350 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 5: US now is using weapons to execute people that they 351 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 5: perceive as their enemies in Gaza, and they're also using 352 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 5: their weapons to re establish themselves as the entity that 353 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 5: is governing Gaza. They're moving into the vacuum AMAS right now. 354 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 4: How would you answer that question? Because I didn't have 355 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 4: an answer to that question. When I heard it last night, 356 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,440 Speaker 4: I thought, that's pretty tough. What is the answer selves? 357 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 5: As the entity that is governing Gaza, they're moving into 358 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 5: the vacuum. 359 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 6: Hamas right now is doing exactly what you would expect 360 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 6: a terrorist organization to do, which is to try to 361 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 6: reconstitute and take back their positions. Right, the success or 362 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 6: failure of this will be if Israel and this international 363 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 6: mechanism is able to create a viable alternative. If they 364 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 6: are successful, Hamas will fail and Gaza will not be 365 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:35,680 Speaker 6: a threat to Israel in the future. 366 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 5: The eventual rebuilding of Gaza will be. 367 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,199 Speaker 4: Now, that's actually a pretty good answer. We have to 368 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 4: give those gosins a viable alternative and that's the next step. 369 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 4: And if we're able to successfully do that create a 370 00:22:54,080 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 4: viable governing authority absent sans Hamas, then Hamas will fail, 371 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 4: not perfect, but absent the obliteration of Gaza, which pretty 372 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 4: much looks obliterated to me anyway, That probably is the 373 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 4: correct answer. Go back to Whitkof for a moment. He 374 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 4: did an interview with Lex Friedman. Friedman and he offered 375 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 4: a window into his mindset. When he did so, he 376 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,880 Speaker 4: described reading the Arab Peace Initiative just ten lines long, 377 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,679 Speaker 4: full of a bunch of abstractions, but there was no 378 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:41,000 Speaker 4: detail in it. He said, quote they liked that concept, 379 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 4: they meaning the Hamas, the Palsonian, the PLA, and of 380 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 4: course the State Department liked it. Why because quote they 381 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,640 Speaker 4: liked that concept because it allowed them to reject everything. 382 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 4: The incentives were perverse. Mark moved a boss, the head 383 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,639 Speaker 4: of the PALSTONI lived like royalty, flying in a sixty 384 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 4: million dollar private jet while governing a refugee population that 385 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 4: was receiving billions in global aid. 386 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:11,879 Speaker 2: And being siphoned often, I might add parenthetically. 387 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,199 Speaker 4: Meanwhile, Benjamin Nett and Yahoo, leading one of the world's 388 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 4: most dynamic economies, flew commercial to Kushner, that contrast revealed everything. 389 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 4: The problem is not a lack of proposals. We've had 390 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 4: proposals since I was, you know, a kid. It was 391 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 4: a lack of incentives. Hamas and the Palsinian leadership they 392 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 4: had no reason to make peace because why because perpetual 393 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 4: conflict sustained their power and kept making them wealthier and 394 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 4: wealthy and wealthier. Kushner Witkough changed that, and they're still 395 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 4: in the process of changing that. So they did that 396 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 4: by reframing the deal not as some moral crusade, but 397 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 4: simply as a transaction. They approached it as a transaction. 398 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 4: Hamas's leaders were obviously not theologians. They were businessmen in camouflage. 399 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 4: They were businessmen. They were terrorists seeking to wipe out 400 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 4: another country. But at the same time, the leadership of 401 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 4: the Mosque they were just businessmen. They didn't care what 402 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 4: happened in Gaza. They didn't care what happened to the 403 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 4: people that were getting killed. They didn't care about any 404 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:25,919 Speaker 4: of that. 405 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 2: They were just. 406 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 4: Trying to preserve their own status, their own safety, their 407 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 4: own luxury. Now, the diplomats would never admit this, much 408 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,200 Speaker 4: less negotiating on that basis, but Kushner and Whitcoff did. 409 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 4: Trump understood that peace would only come when the financial 410 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:51,440 Speaker 4: and the personal calculus shifted. Now, both Kushner and Witkoff 411 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 4: say that Hamas's leadership was assured that under the new 412 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 4: arrangement they could retain their personal security and lifestyle, but 413 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 4: it would be in a demilitarized Gaza, funded by the 414 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 4: Arab states, not through terror, and not through extortion, so 415 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 4: that for the first time those leaders of Hamas could 416 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:20,479 Speaker 4: keep their palaces, but they couldn't keep the rockets. It 417 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 4: was pragmatic, transactional, and obviously going to be offensive to 418 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 4: moral purists, which is to say it probably is going 419 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 4: to work. That's the realism that defined a twenty point 420 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 4: peace plan that Trump had unveiled. Its first phase, now implemented, secures, 421 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 4: the ceasefire, the hostage exchange. Every living Israeli hostage has 422 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 4: been returned, roughly two thousand Palestinian detainees have been released. 423 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 4: Israeli troops had withdrawn to the pre agreed lines. The 424 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 4: next phase in visions Gaza governed by a technocratic Palestinian 425 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:05,680 Speaker 4: committee under international oversight, Hamas disarmed, excluded from any governing 426 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:12,920 Speaker 4: and the reconstruction funded by Arab investment. Now think about 427 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 4: that alone. If the Arabs are going to put their 428 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 4: wealth into the reconstruction of Gaza, do you think that 429 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 4: they're going to want Hamas to be militarized and be 430 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 4: able to do anything which would rightfully and legitimately cause 431 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:35,640 Speaker 4: Israel to say, seriously, here come the bombs again. That's 432 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 4: not gonna happen. I mean, could it happen, yes, But 433 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 4: they've set up a framework where it's unlikely to happen 434 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,400 Speaker 4: because the Arabs don't want their investment destroyed, and Israel 435 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 4: is still willing and capable of destroying that investment. If 436 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 4: Hamas is allowed to reconstitute and rearm and re goovern, 437 00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 4: they've taken that away. So the plan, when in essence, 438 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:06,959 Speaker 4: replaces ideology with incentives, economic zones, aid, transparency, the promise 439 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 4: of prosperity. Think about just that, the promise of prosperity 440 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 4: in place of perpetual, ongoing, infinite resistance. So where the 441 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 4: diplomats typical foggy bottom sees endless cycles, Trump saw an equation, 442 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,159 Speaker 4: how do I solve the equation? He saw a transaction? 443 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,440 Speaker 4: How do I do the transaction? When people say that 444 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 4: you know, now, I think in personal relationships, being transact 445 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 4: you know, being transactional is pretty awful. But in terms 446 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 4: of diplomacy, in terms of trying to solve an interminable conflict, 447 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 4: being transactional seems to be quite workable. Think about how 448 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 4: in his first four years Trump one point zero Trump 449 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 4: rebalanced the region by confronting a Ran not appeasing the Iranians, 450 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 4: by recognizing Jerusalem Israel's capital, cutting off the cash that 451 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 4: fueled terror. 452 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 2: He proved. 453 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 4: Trump proved that stability flows from strength, terror flows from appeasement. 454 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 4: The Abraham Accords, which were obviously dismissed by the Democrats, 455 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 4: dismissed by liberals and seemed impossible, actually normalized Israel's relations 456 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 4: with multiple Arab states. And I think, like I think, 457 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 4: the Saudis will eventually sign on to it. Now that 458 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 4: success created the economic and the diplomatic architecture that now 459 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 4: underpins this Gossen Deal. 460 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 2: Trump, Kushner, and Wittkoff. What they do. 461 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 4: They simply applied the same principles to the hardest case, 462 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:59,640 Speaker 4: the Washington establishment. They won't learn this lesson at all, 463 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 4: and they they will. And it is Look, this piece 464 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 4: is temporary. This depends upon the transaction actually being completed. 465 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 4: But the incentives are in place. Israel they can bomb 466 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 4: if Amas rearms, and if the technocrats and Tony Blair 467 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 4: aren't able to put together a governing organization, yeah, it 468 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:28,680 Speaker 4: won't work, but it's the principles and the steps necessary, 469 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 4: the transactions necessary to make it work. 470 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 2: Have been put in place. 471 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 10: Michael, I guess you were watching the same table channels 472 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 10: I was. I was assured that there were millions of 473 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 10: people on the street and there was no kind of 474 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 10: violence or vandalism. There were a couple peripheral arrest made, 475 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 10: but it wasn't from the No King rally. 476 00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 2: Interesting, maybe they've learned their lesson. 477 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 4: Isn't it interesting that members of the State Department have 478 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 4: conflicts of interests because they have wives they're involved wives 479 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 4: or spouses, husbands they're involved in in g os We 480 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 4: have US senators whose husbands or wives are you know, 481 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 4: in a c suite or executive director or whatever of 482 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 4: an NGO, and they get paid millions of dollars. So 483 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 4: of course Leslie Stall has to ask, wait a minute, 484 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 4: you have business interests in the Middle East? Isn't that 485 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 4: a conflict? 486 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 5: I mean, some blurring of a line between you know, 487 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 5: what you're doing in terms of foreign policy and benefiting 488 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 5: financially from what's going on. 489 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 6: So, first of all, Leslie, nobody's pointed out any instances 490 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:48,800 Speaker 6: where Steve or I have pursued any policies or done 491 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 6: anything that have not been in the interests of America. 492 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 2: Number Two perception. 493 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 6: But we can't spend our time focused on perception as 494 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 6: much as we have to focus on the facts. 495 00:31:59,000 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 2: We're here to do good. 496 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 6: These are impossible tasks, and because this is important, I've 497 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 6: volunteered my time to help the President and Steve try 498 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 6: to make progress. But Steve nor I will be involved 499 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 6: in awarding contracts or figuring out who does business, you know, 500 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 6: in Gaza after. 501 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 4: I think it's an incredibly important point to make. Now, 502 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 4: we're just here to get this deal done. We're not 503 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 4: going to We're not going to do any contracts. We're 504 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 4: not involved in that. We're not going to oversee it 505 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 4: or anything else. Woodkof makes an astonishing admission. 506 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 7: From my standpoint, Leslie, I'm not in business anymore what 507 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 7: your family is. But I've divested like Jared, I receive 508 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 7: no salary and I pay all my own expenses. 509 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 2: I didn't know that he's flying around the country on his. 510 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 4: Own doing this. Wow, there are uh good for him? 511 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 4: Good for him. I'm done that he's wealthy enough to 512 00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 4: afford to do it and he's serving us. So this 513 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 4: whole thing about a conflict of interest another attempt at 514 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 4: a gotcha that I think utterly fails. And the proof 515 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,600 Speaker 4: will be if this piece deal holds and they really 516 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 4: do start rebuilding Gaza. I don't expect to see Jared 517 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 4: Kushner or Steve Whitkoff, or their families for that matter, 518 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 4: anywhere near that. Trump can talk about a new riviera 519 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 4: on the Mediterranean on he wants to, but they won't 520 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 4: have anything to do with that, and nor should they. 521 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 4: Nor should they. Leslie Stall proves herself once again just 522 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 4: to be another member of the cabal. But if they 523 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 4: conducted the diplomacy the way they conducted the interview, they 524 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 4: have at least a fifty to fifty chances succeeding, which 525 00:33:53,880 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 4: I wish them well. I hope it does